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Somebody Should Tell Horror Fans That RE6 Is Actually Good

It's true. Resident Evil 6 isn't technically "survival/horror." And for a franchise that helped pioneer the genre, this is a huge blow to some ardent fans.

Capcom even admitted that RE6 isn't survival/horror, as they've relabeled this new entry as "dramatic/horror," whatever that means. And no matter where you go, you find hardcore RE fans hating on RE6 for a variety of reasons, but the #1 reason appears to be that it's "just a third-person shooter" now.

Well, I can understand that sentiment. Being one of those disillusioned, disenfranchised old-school Final Fantasy fans, I totally get feeling left out in the cold by a game maker that's supposed to cater to its supporters. However, that being said, I'm not sure if people have noticed but there have been two or three leaked RE6 review scores already (another just came to light a few hours ago), and none of them are bad. In fact, they're borderline elite scores.

Furthermore, just because you can actually move while shooting this time around - and I'm sorry, but that should've been a feature in RE5 - doesn't automatically make it a generic shooter. From what I can tell, Capcom will still freak us out with a pretty intense story, and if we're legitimately frightened, does that not qualify as "horror?" I mean, who says horror has to be slow? I get the philosophy and psychology behind it, of course; a building fear is a lasting, potentially scarring fear, and many will point to Konami's competing Silent Hill series as a true example of survival/horror.

With that, I wholeheartedly agree.

But that doesn't mean RE6 will be a bad game. In fact, in many ways, it looks to be the game RE5 should've been (even though I liked RE5 just fine). So come next week, I'm hoping the bitter fans will at least give it a chance; read some reviews, watch some more gameplay, and come to a more objective opinion based on the title's merits alone.

Comments (64 posts)

I played DD`s RE6 demo and I kinda like Leon/Helena`s part. A nod to the original RE; the only thing I disliked is the slow walking zombies can freaking dodge when you try to shoot their head which is contradictory to their nature.

Having played the demo & all three campaigns of RE6 myself I am personally stoked with the game & pumped for it's release. The game has epic written all over it.

Old school RE fans just need to get over it & learn to accept the direction the series has taken like SH fans had too. You don't have to like it or play it, noone is forcing you & if you somehow can't let go of the older games then download them from the PSN & kindly, stfu about it. :)

Thank you for this article, finally someone knows not to piss on a game simply because it's not the same as it's older, classic offerings. Too many "fans" are avoiding this game without even playing it because it's not "RE" & some of them are even encouraging people to boycott RE6 & not buy it to "support the franchise"

I was bitter with the Silent Hill franchise for a while too but eventually learned to come to terms with the new direction of the series. So sick & tired of seeing gimps with handles like "WeskerMan" "I<3Ada", "UmbrellaHunter" & "Biohazardfan" thinking they can discourage others from liking & enjoying this game because in their own little fantasy worlds "They aren't real RE games like RE1 & RE2" This isn't the late nineties anymore, times change & Capcom obviously believe the series needed to go in a new direction. It's time to rinse the tears, grasp this new reality & learn to accept change. A game isn't rubbish because it's taking a new direction, that is complete utter fangimp saliva & anyone who reads or hears this should disregard such bigot comments straight away.

Again, thank you for writing this article. To be honest this is the first i've read that actually seems to accept this series for what it's become. If you were in my country I'd stalk you & shake your hand.Last edited by Kevin555 on 9/24/2012 10:55:02 PM

Sounds like you're wanting fans to accept the way things are now. I will rent this, not buy it. While it may make for a good game by it having the RE name it should live up to the history of the franchise and for most fans that doesn't' appear to be the case.

I miss the days when games were not automatically made to appease the highest number of people. All this does is water down the overall quality of the game and piss purists off.

So it's only a good game because it has Resident Evil in the name? Lol, really? How cute :D

"it should live up to the history of the franchise"

Yes, because titles such as Final Fantasy XIII, Silent Hill Homecoming, Devil May Cry 4 & Tekken 6 all lived up to the history of their franchises? Oh wait...

RE6 is trying to cater to all fans by putting four campaigns in the game. You would be lucky to get three campaigns in one game of any type, let alone four. People that have the game already are saying both Leon & Ada's campaign have a survival horror feel to them while Chris & Jake's campaign have catered for a more action horror feel like RE5. You see some RE fans like the old horror feel while some RE fans like the action feel which is why Capcom have created multiple campaigns to appease both sides of the fanbase by applying both styles of gameplay into the one game.

I got no problems with people playing the game & just not liking it, that is their opinion & there is nothing wrong with that but when hardcore fans just assume the game is rubbish because of it's direction without even playing the game. Well, that is simply a case of bigot fans just not wanting to accept the game even if it is a quality game in it's own right. As Dutka said above, it's fans missing the games quality because they want to miss it's quality.Last edited by Kevin555 on 9/25/2012 3:50:23 AM

Obviously my error in omitting a comma caused you to misread what I meant. Though I must say it's obvious what I was saying. Here is how it should read:

"While it may make for a good game, by it having the RE name it should live up to the history of the franchise and for most fans that doesn't' appear to be the case."

The point I'm making is that while it may indeed be a good game that isn't enough. I'm sure if Madden were to come out with Blitz style mechanics with partial nudity it may actually make for a good game but due to it having the Madden title it would actually be a letdown for fans.

You said: "Yes, because titles such as Final Fantasy XIII, Silent Hill Homecoming, Devil May Cry 4 & Tekken 6 all lived up to the history of their franchises? Oh wait..."

Not sure where you're going with this. If you're attempting to point out other flawed games within a series to justify the shortcomings of the latest RE games than you're quite foolish. I'm not going to eat a crap sandwich then justify its taste because I happen to wash it down with a nice glass of urine.

You said: "RE6 is trying to cater to all fans by putting four campaigns in the game. You would be lucky to get three campaigns in one game of any type, let alone four."

I wasn't aware more = quality. I don't care if there is 1 campaign or 30. What matters is the content. Has it really gotten to the point where fans of the series are labeled "bigots" (your own words) because we choose to find fault with the idea of Capcom giving us sections of an overall game we can be happy about?

If I order a pizza expecting pepperoni and only a quarter of it ends up being pepperoni while the other quarters wind up being completely different toppings I do believe I have a right to complain.

You said: "when hardcore fans just assume the game is rubbish because of it's direction without even playing the game."

Pot meet Kettle. Here you are assuming I haven't played the game.

Come on now, you've been here long enough to know not to start a flame war with me. I find it insulting that not only would you purposely misread my comments but attack me over false assumptions. Shame on you.

Don't think your Madden analogy fits RE6, LV. Besides moving while shooting, I'm not entirely sure what has changed so drastically. All I'm worried about is the multiple players thing...to me, RE should be a solo freaky experience. Even though Sheva was great in RE5, I maintain that.

Always scarier when by your lonesome. But beyond that, you talk about content. And if the appropriate content is there, what's really the problem? This isn't like Final Fantasy where just about every last cornerstone of the gameplay disappeared.

Just making an extreme example in the hopes Kevin might understand where I'm coming from. The problem with the content is it's not there. RE has not been faithful to the RE brand for several years now.

RE5 has almost no puzzles and the ones it had were beyond simple. RE6 continues the trend of RE5 with its absurd character design. Seriously look at Chris and tell me he resembles anything other than a wrestler on roids.

The storyline is all over the place. What was once a contained story set in an interesting location is now all over the world. Don't get me started on the inventory.

It's not hard to see the minimal approach the RE series has taken. Less inventory management, fewer puzzles. The RE series has become all about flash and nonstop action.

The fact that RE6 could be a "good" game is irrelevant to HORROR fans if the game is anything but a HORROR game.

I mean horror fans would want some horror in their games, right? They also want some Survival horror, but that would be asking for too much. RE6 is not gonna deliver that.

Anyway, that would be like telling hardcore fans of the fighting game genre that DOA Xtreme Beach Volleyball is a good game. No big deal to that crowd. Unless they're just fans of the characters. Which is what happens with many RE fans. They will mostly get RE6 because of the characters. Who dies? Hey Sherry is back! etc. etc. but not because they're looking to get their horror fix with the game.

Yep, same here. I miss scaring myself silly.But since I'm way behind on my gaming, I will look back at some of the scary titles I missed this gen. Like Dead Space and the Siren series...Also I have a feeling there will be some real emotional scares in the real survival/(may be)horror master piece, "The Last of Us." :)

This game has interesting controls, not what I'm used to compared to RE5. I don't know, I just feel that this game is bringing it back to some original aspects of the older games but just over the shoulder. For one that I'm suprised about is they got some really cool ideas for different types of monsters for the different infections in the game. The graphics for the game are sweet and extremely detailed. I'm surprised with capcom, I really am. Considering capcom hasn't done a really good job with their customer fanbase. Really only two games that they've published are actually good.

Sometimes games go in different directions. It happens. I know I complain alot about games but NEVER until I've played it first. But who knows? Maybey this will shake things up a bit. I for one, gladly say buh bye to stop, shoot, walk, stop, shoot, walk. As I've said when I first heard this. Maybe now I can enjoy an RE game for once.

Still not sure how people think controls can make a game not scary. Dead space had pretty typical third person shooter controls and still managed to be the scariest game I have ever played. And the second scariest game I ever played, Condemned 2 was a FPS. It all has to do with pace, shitty controls don't make a game scarier they just cripple the players ability to enjoy the game play

Condemned 2 is awesome, it showed off what this generation was going to be capable of in gameplay. And then nobody bothered to realize those hopes and instead retreated to safe, simple, and mainstream.

I disagree. While it makes perfect sense to move around while you shoot in a shooter game, I felt the lack of moving while aiming added some suspense to the combat. I actually prefer the RE5 controls to RE6 after having played the RE6 demo. The way Capcom implemented them are bad in my opinion. When compared to Dead Space or even Resident Evil Revelations RE6's are weird. Plus it makes no sense to me why the character switches which hand they use to shoot when you swap the shoulder cam. Retarded. Haha

Overall there is a lot I didn't like about the demo, everything from the graphics, to the menus to the way it blurs your character when you aim. Maybe the retail game will be better.

If the zombies weren't as fast as they were in RE5, I'd almost agree. But there's plenty of suspense and urgency without being mired in one spot. It's absurdly unrealistic, especially in this day and age, and it's definitely not how a developer would seek to increase suspense. They didn't do it for that reason in the first place; they just did it because technology was lacking.

In the bigger scheme of things, it just makes zero sense to have any human unable to move while aiming a weapon. It's silly.

I'm willing to accept the changes without complaint IF and only if they are balanced out in other areas. I'm playing Mass Effect 3 and while they did add some extra RPG to the skills trees they also removed important stuff like hacking.

With RE I agree that it adds a frantic tenseness when you stop to shoot because let's face it when you are low on ammo and the undead (only vulnerable in the head) are coming you ARE going to stop and aim before you fire a bullet. That's just shooting 101.

But if we're going off in an action direction with the controls it should be balanced elsewhere with tense cinematography, environment and lighting, horror soundscapes, and a general focus on impending doom.Last edited by WorldEndsWithMe on 9/25/2012 1:31:11 AM

I didn't like that you can't shoot the zombies on the ground. Then they get up when you get close to them. I know they're going to get up, that's why I shoot them. I don't remember that in any other RE games.

I played the Demo. You guys know i'm the Biggest RE fan on the site. I was Impressed by Leon's game. However it was kinda a let down that headshots don't kill and they controls are way way way too busy, I also hate that you can't remap the buttons, but it's a demo and that might change, idk, i hope so. I like the new healing system, and the stamina bar although I didn't notice it at first. Walk and shoot is back, yes I say back cause it's been in RE before, also, Leon can duel wield which is pretty sick but wasteful. Lots of tense moments, nothing to write home about though.

on to Mr Redfield. There was nothing resident evil about his playthrough. That being said I gotta admit I was blown away by it. The atmosphere, the fast pace, the pure Chaos. nice.

can't say too much about lil' wesker, I liked his intro the best and his hand to hand is.... interesting.

all in all, i look forward to this. The demo did what a demo is s'posed to do and raised my interest, hopefully the rest of the game doesn't fall flat.

Not counting the arcade games. Revelations and outbreak had it. I think dead aim did as well but that game was horrible! :\ I thoroughly enjoyed that demo. Very surprising to me. Played it twice with different psn buddies. I will await your review as well because I am a big fan of it too :).

I'm not really sure this game is actually good. A demo isn't much to go by but I will say from what I played only Leon's campaign seems like it's going to be enjoyable. Jake's could be interesting story wise because of Sherry's involvement but gameplay in both Jake's and Chris' campaigns are severely hampered by a poor camera and bad shooting and cover mechanics.

Played the demo and I think it's everything RE5 should have been and times better.We just gotta face it, it's impossible for games to be like RE1, RE2 and RE3 anymore.Games like that wouldn't be acceptable in these days and age.The Leon part was well done indeed, that's how a zombie shooter should be like today.Though Chris' part was kinda intense and I knew it's gonna be more action, just didn't expect it to be a TPS.Jake part is hard to play though, but it certainly reminds me of RE5.

Hate it all you want, but days of the classic ain't coming back.Time to move on people.

RE5 had some of the best co-op ive ever played. It was not scary and it was not a thriller. The story was cliche into the very dialogue. However, you could spend hours playing with your friend (or girlfriend) and have some good times. I don't expect re6 to deliver on horror because nothing really goes back to how it used to be. I've given up hoping for some game to blow me away because i haven't found one since demons souls released. Well, MGS4 has recently blown me away but it released in 08?

I played RE when i was 5 years old and still remember getting freaked out by the zombie turning around. RE2 had tons of jump scares and moments where your in a tiny hallway with no ammo and a bunch of enemies. RE3 just had that OMFG GTFO whenever nemisis showed up. I loved RE4, it had some terrific ambience. The story felt alright, and i really enjoyed the difficulty. RE5 was a joke in everything BUT the co-op and gameplay.

This is just my opinion of course but im also a huge resident evil fan. Im not expecting to be scared while playing RE6 but i am hoping for another fun adventure. The demo is horribly glitched and buggy, but it still has some fun in it. Leon's campaign is my favorite although wesker jr is a badass. Sherry has a nice backside too.

Played the demo and it was just not fun. Leon campaign was okay but the others were bad. Also the camera is to close to the character and the red dot is all over the place...you can be standing still and the red dot is swaying heavy left, right, up or down

I completely agree with this article. It is the story and the way it's told that makes for a good survival horror game, not the control scheme. In fact, have these RE nerds tried playing those old games with the broken-ass swivel controls recently? I doubt it. They'd quit out in a rage in under 25 minutes. Or has their little pee-brains completely blanked out the raging success that was RE4 ? And WHY was it so successful? Better controls.

Now clearly those RE4 controls had no place in RE5, so what is Capcom to do in RE6? Well look at that, they glanced around the room and saw the success of Valve's L4D and CoD's Zombies and said dang, WE'RE the zombie franchise, we need to get with it and make games like this.

Too many errors in your rant to take on all of them. Since I own and enjoy a majority of the RE series I must be one of those "nerds" and having played RE2 not too long ago I didn't "quit out in a rage", actually I enjoyed myself.

I can't believe you would consider RE looking at LFD and Call of Duty Zombie mode as a good thing. While we're at it I think some of the classic RPG companies should take a more western style approach...oh wait...shiiiiiiiit...

I don't like you :)Last edited by LimitedVertigo on 9/25/2012 10:19:14 AM

so RE6 is "good" because of leaked review scores?your not forgetting RE5 got good reviews right?and that is one of the worst games weve had in a long, long time!im sorry, but reviews these days hold about as much credit as politicians!IE, there not to be trusted as far as they can be thrown!

final fantasy 13 for example is indeed the WORSE game in the final fantasy series, but its still enjoyable, just because i couldnt (and didnt) hold a candle to the others doesnt man its bad, just means that its not as great as it could have/should have been and people seem to confuse that for "terrible"

oh claptrap!RE5 was a utter mess!from the constant bugs, to the AI as intelligent as a retarded cockroach, to the repetitive missions, to the boring uninspired story, to the simplified boss battles.RE5 is one of THE worst games we have had this gen!

I already know Ill LIKE RE6 just like i liked RE5 and 4, I just know not to expect to be scared by it... and until RE games start doing that again (which they wont) I may LIKE all the future installments but RE1, 2 3 and code veronica will ALWAYS be better.

the original RE games gave us a unique experience... something never done in a game before... the ability to actually make you jump (you used to have to watch scary movies to get that experience... to see it done with video game back then was mind blowing)... now all we get when we see RE is action games.... and action games.. although not bad.. weve been getting those since gaming first started so its definitely nothing ground breaking or new.. and if i want action.. Uncharted does it WWWWAAYYY better.

Played the demo again. All three campaigns. RE6 makes RE5 seem like a staple of the franchise. I can't stand the controls. They actually make me long for the tank controls of RE5. I'd even take RE4 controls. After RE5 I didn't think Capcom could do worse. Boy have they. The 3DS RE makes more sense than this one. Ugh...

But notice that the headline mentions Horror fans. The type that wants horror in their games. Especially in Resident Evil games.

The headline could read "somebody should tell horror fans that FIFA 13 is actually good". To horror fans, that is pretty insignificant. Because of the lack of the horror element. Regardless if the game was any good.

If RE6 were to guarantee horror fans some survival horror, then it would be something to try and sell them the game with. But as it is, RE6 is just an above average/good action game.Last edited by Bonampak on 9/26/2012 3:28:04 PM